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from any considerable elevation, yet there is little danger of falling. In some places, indeed where the stones are decayed, caution may be required, and an Arab guide is always necessary to avoid a total interruption: but, upon the whole, the means of ascent are such tuat almost every one may accomplish it. Our progress was impeded by other causes We carried with us a few instruments, such as our boat-compass, a ther.nometer, a telescope, &c.; these could not be trusted in the hands of the Arabs, and tu y were liable to be broken every instant. At length we reached the topmost fter, to the great delight and satisfaction of all the party. Here we found a platform tanty-two feet square, consisting of nine large stones, each of which might weigh about a tou, although they are much inferior in s ze to some of the stones used in the constraction of this pyramid. Travellers of all ages and of various nations have here inscried their names. Some are written in Greek, many in French, a few in Arabic, one or two in English, and others in Latin. We were as desirous as our predecessors to leave a menorial of our arrival; it seemed to be a tribute of thankfulness due for th: siccess of our undertaking; and presently every one of our party was seen busied in adding the inscription of his name.

Upon this area, which looks like a point when seen from Cairo or from the Nile, it is extraordinary that none of those numerous hermits fixed their abode who retired to the tops of columns and to almost inaccessible solitudes upon the pinnacles of the highest rocks. It offers a much more convenient and s cure retreat than was selected by an ascetic who pitched his residence upon the architrave of a temple in the vicinity of Athens. The heat, according to Fabreu eit's thermometer at the time of our coming, did not exceed 84 degrees; and the same temperature continued during the time we remained, a strong wind blowing from the north-west. The view from this eminence amply fulfilled our expectations; nor do the accounts which have been given of it, as it appears at this season of the year, exaggerate the novelty and grandeur of the sight. All the region towards Cairo and the Delta resembled a sea covered with innu nerable islands. Forests of palm-trees were seen standing in the water, the inundation spreading over the land where they stood, so as to give them an appearance of growing in the flood. To the north, as far as the eye could reach, nothing could be discerned but a watery surface thus diversified by plantations and by villages. To the south we saw the Pyramids of Saccára; and upon the east of these, sinaller monuments of the same kind nearer to the Nile. An appearance of rains might indeed be traced the whole way from the Pyram ds of Djiza to those of Saccára, as if they had once been connected, so as to constitute one vast cemetery. Beyond the Pyramids of Saccára we could perceive the distant mountains of the Said; and upon an eminence near the Libyan side of the Nile appeared a monastery of considerable size. Towards the west and south-west, the eye ranged over the great Libyan Desert, extending to the utmost verge of the horizon, without a single object to interrupt the dreary horror of the landscape, except dark floating spots caused by the shadows of passing clouds upon the sand.

Upon the south-east side is the gigantic statue of the Sphinx, the most colossal piece of sculpture which remains of all the works executed by the ancients. The French have uncovered all the pedestal of this statue, and all the cumbent or leonine parts of the figure; these were before entirely concealed by sand. Instead, however, of answering the expectations raised concerning the work upon which it was supposed to rest, the pedestal proves to be a wretched substructure of brick-work and small pieces of stone put together, like the most insignificant piece of modern masonry, and wholly out of character both with respect to the prodigious labour be stowed upon the statue itself, and the gigantic appearance of the surrounding objects. Beyoud the Sphinx we distinctly discerned, amidst the sandy waste, the remains and vestiges of a inagnificent building, perhaps the Serapeum.

Immediately beneath our view, upon the eastern and western side, we saw so many tombs that we were unable to count them, some Leing half-buried in the sand, others rising considerably above it. All these are of an oblong form, with sides sloping like the roofs of European houses. A plan of their situation and appearance is given in Pocock's Travels.' The second pyramid, standing to the south-west, has the remains of a covering near its vertex, as of a plaiting of stone which had once invested all its four sides. Some persons, deceived by the external hue of this covering, have believed it to be of marble; but its white appearance is owing to a partial decomposition affecting the surface only. Not a single fragment of marble can be found anywhere near this pyramid. It is surrounded by a paved court, having walls

on the outside, and places as for doors or portals in the walls; also an advanced work or portico. A third pyramid, of much smaller dimensions than the second, appears beyond the Sphinx to the south-west; and there are three others, one of which is nearly buried in the sand, between the large pyramid and this statue to the south-east.

CLASSICAL TRAVELLERS—FORSYTHI, EUSTACE, ETC.

The classical countries of Greece and Italy have been described by various traveliers-scholars, poets, painters, architects, and antiquaries. The celebrated ‘Traveis of Anacharsis,' by Barthelemy, were published in 1788, and shortly afterwards translated into English. This excellent work-of which the hero is as interesting as any character in romance-excited a general enthusiasm with respect to the memorable soil and history of Greece. Dr. Clarke's Travels further stimulated inquiry; and Byron's 'Childe Harold' drew attention to the natural beauty and magnificence of Grecian scenery and ancient art. MR. JOHN CAM HOBHOUSE, afterwards LORD BROUGHTON (1786 -1869,) the fellow-traveller of Lord Byron, published an account of his Journey through Albania.' Late in life (in 1859), Lord Broughton published two volumes entitled 'Italy: Remarks made in Several Visits from the year 1816 to 1854.' DR. HOLLAND, 1815, gave to the world his interesting Travels in the Ionian Isles, Albania, Thessaly, and Macedonia. A voluminous and able work, in two quarto vo lumes, was published in 1819, by MR. EDWARD DODWELL, entitled 'A Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece.' SIR WILLIAM GELL, in 1823, gave an account of a Journey to the Morea.' An artist, Mr. H. W. WILLIAMS, also published Travels in Greece and Italy,' enriched with valuable remarks on the ancient works of

art.

Lord Byron also extended his kindling power and energy to Italy; but previous to this time a master-hand had described its ruins and antiquities. A valuable work, which has now become a standard authority, was in 1812 published under the modest title of 'Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters, during an Excursion in Italy in the years 1802 and 1803,' by JOSEPH FORSYTH, Esq. Mr. Forsyth (1763– 1815) was a native of Elgin, in the county of Moray, and conducted a classical seminary at Newington-Butts, near London, for many years. On his return from a tour in Italy, he was arrested at Turin in 1803, in consequence of Napoleon's harsh and unjust order to detain all British subjects travelling in his dominions. After several years of detention, he prepared the notes he had made in Italy, and published them in England, as a means of enlisting the sympathies of Napoleon and the leading members of the National Institute in his behalf. This last effort for freedom failed, and the author always regretted that he had made it. Mr. Forsyth was at length released on the downfall of Napoleon in 1814. The remarks thus hastily prepared for a special purpose, could hardly have been improved if expended into regular dissertations and essays. They are vigorous and acute, evincing keen observation and original

thinking, as well as the perfect knowledge of the scholar and the sentences from Forsyth will shew his peculiar First, of the author's journey to Rome: The Italian Vintage.

critic. Some detached and picturesque style.

The vintage was in full glow. Men, women, children, asses, all were variously engaged in the work. I remarked in the scene a prodigality and negligence which I never saw in France. The grapes dropped unheeded from the panniers, and hundreds were left unclipped on the vines. The vintagers poured on us as we passed the richest ribaldry of the Italian language, and seemed to claim from Homer's old vindemiator' a prescriptive right to abuse the traveller.*

The Coliseum.

A colossal taste gave rise to the Coliseum. Here, indeed, gigantic dimensions were necessary; for though hundreds could enter at once, and fifty thousand find seats, the space was still insufficient for room, and the crowd for the morning games began at midnight. Vespasian and Titus, as if presaging their own deaths, hurried the building, and left several marks of their precipitancy behind. In the upper walls they have inserted stones which had evidently been dressed for a different Some of the arcades are grossly unequal; no moulding preserves the same level and form round the whole ellipse, and every order is full of license. The Doric has no triglyphs and metopes, and its arch is too low for its columns; the Ionic repeats the entablature of the Doric: the third order is but a rough cast of the Corinthian, and its foliage the thickest water-plants: the fourth seems a mere r petition of the third in pilasters; and the whole is crowned by a heavy Attic. Happily for the Coliseum, the shape necessary to an amphitheatre has given it a stability of construction sufficient to resist fires, and earthquakes, and ightnings, and sieges. Its elliptical form was the hoop which bound and held it entire till barbarians rent that consolidating ring; popes widened the breach; and time, not unassisted, continues the work of dilapidation. At this moment the bermitage is threatened with a dreadful crash, and a generation not very remote must be content, I apprehend, with the picture of this stupendous monument. Of the interior elevation. two slopes, by some called meniana, are already demolished; the arena the podium, are interred. No member runs entire round the whole ellipse; but every member made such a circuit, and reappears so often, that plans, sections, and elevations of the original work are drawn with the precision of a modern fabric. When the whole amphitheatre was entire, a child might comprehend its design in a moment, and go direct to his place without straying in the porticos. for each arcade bears its number engraved, and opposite to every fourth arcade was a staircase. This multiplicity of wide, straight and separate passages proves the attention which the ancients paid to the safe discharge of a crowd; it finely illustrates the precept of Vitruvius, and exposes the perplexity of some modern theatres. Every nation has undergone its revolution of vices; and as cruelty is not the present vice of ours. we can all humanely execrate the purpose of amphitheatres, now that they lie in ruins. Moralists may tell us that the truly brave are never cruel; but this monument says No Here sat the conquerors of the world, coolly to enjoy the tortures and death of men who had never offended them. Two aqueducts were scarcely sufficient to w: sh off the human b'ood which a few hours' sport shed in this imperial shambles. Twice in one day came the senators and matrons of Rome to the butchery; a virgin always gave the signal for slaughter; and when glutted with bloodshed, those ladies sat down in the wet and streaming arence to a luxurious supper! Such reflections check our regret for its ruin. As it now stands, the Coliseum is a striking image of Rome itself-decayed, vacant, serious, yet grand-half-gray and half-green-erect on one side and fallen or

• The poet Rogers has sketched the same joyous scene of Italian life:

Many a canzonet

Comes through the leaves. the vines in light festoons

From tree to tree, the trees in avenues,

And every avenue a covered walk

Hung with black clusters, 'Tis enough to make

The sad man merry, the benevolent one

Melt into tears, so general is the joy.

the other, with consecrated ground in its bosom-inhabited by a beadsman; visited by every caste; for moralists, antiquaries, painters, architects, devotees, all meet here to meditate, to examine, to draw, to measure, and to pray. In contemplating antiquities,' says Livy, the mind itself becomes antique. It contracts from such objects a venerable rust, which I prefer to the polish and the point of those wits who have lately profaned this august ruin with ridicule.

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In the year following the publication of Forsyth's original and valuable work, appeared A Classical Tour in Italy,' in two large volumes, by JonIN CHETWODE EUSTACE, an English Catholic priest, who had travelled in Italy in the capacity of tutor. Though pleas antly written, Eustace's work is one of no great authority or research. John Cam Hobhouse (Lord Broughton) characterises Eustace as one of the most inaccurate and unsatisfactory writers that have in our times attained a temporary reputation.' Mr. Eustace died at Naples in 1815. 'Letters from the North of Italy,' addressed to Mr. Hallam the historian, by W. STEWART ROSE, Esq., in two volumes, 1819, are partly descriptive and partly critical; and though somewhat affected in style, form an amusing miscellany. A Tour through the Southern Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples,' by the HON. R. KEPPEL CRAVEN (1821), is more of an itinerary than a work of reflection, but is plainly and pleasingly written.The Diary of an Invalid,' by HENRY MATTHEWS (1820), and Rome in the Nineteenth Century' (1820), by MISS WALDIE are both interesting works: the first is lively and picturesque in style, and was well received by the public. In 1821 LADY MORGAN published a work entitled 'Italy,' containing pictures of Italian society and manners, drawn with more vivacity and point than delicacy, but characterized by Lord Byron as very faithful. Observations on Italy,' by MR. JOHN BELL (1825), and à 'Description of the Antiquities of Rome,' by DR. BURTON (1828), are works of accuracy and research. 'Illustrations of the Passes of the Alps,' by W. BROCKEDON (1828-9), unite the effects of the artist's pencil with the information of the observant topographer. MR. BECKFORD, author of the romance of Vathek,' had in early life written a work called Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal.' After remaining unpublished for more than forty years, two volumes of these graphic and picturesque delineations were given to the world in 1835. Every season adds to the number of works on Italy and other parts of the continent.

Funeral Ceremony at Rome. - From Matthews' Diary of an Invalid.'

One day, on my way home. I met a funeral ceremony. A crucifix hung with black, followed by a train of priests, with lighted tapers in their bands. headed the procession. Then came a troop of figures dressed in white robes, with their faces covered with masks of the saine materials. The bier followed, on which lay the corpse of a young woman, arrayed in all the ornaments of dress with her face exposed, where the bloom of life yet lingered The members of different fraternities followed the bier. dressed in the robes of their orders, and all masked. They carried lighted tapers in their hands, and chanted out prayers in a sort of mumbling recitative. I followed the train to the church, for I had doubts whether the beautiful figure I had seen on the bier was not a figure of wx; but I was soon convinced it was indeed the corpse of a fellow-creature, cut off in the pride and bloom of

youthful maiden beauty. Such is the Italian mode of conducting the last scene of the ragi-comedy of life. As soon as a person dics, the relations leave the house, and fly to bury themselves and their griefs in some other retirement. The care of the funeral devolves upon one of the fraternities who are associated for this purpose in every pari-h. These are dressed in a sort of domino and hood, which, having holes for the eyes, answers the purpose of a mask, and completely conceals the face. The funeral of the very poorest is thus conducted with quite as much ceremony as need be. This is perhaps a better system than our own, where the relatives are exhibited as a spectacle to impertinent curiosity, whilst from feelings of duty they follow to the grave the remains of those they loved But ours is surely an unphilosophical view of the subject. It looks as if we were materialists, and considered the cold clod as the sole remains of the object of our affection. The Italiaus reason better, and perhaps feel as much as ourselves, when they regard the body, deprived of the soul that animated, and the mind that informed it, as no more a part of the departed spirit than the clothes which it has also left behind. The u.timate disposal of the body is perhaps conducted here with too much of that spirit which would disregard all claims that this mortal coil' can have to our attention. As soon as the funeral-service is concluded, the corpse is stripped and consigned to those who have the care of the interment. There are large vaults underneath the churches for the reception of the dead. Those who can afford it are put into a wooden shell before they are cast to oue of these Golgothas; but the great mass are tossed in without a rag to cover them. When one of these caverns is full, it is bricked up; and after fifty years it is opened again, and the bones are removed to ot er places prepared for their reception So much for the last scene of the drama of life. With respect to the first act, our conduct of it is certainly more natural. Here they swathe and swaddle their children till the poor urchins look like Egyptian mummies. To this frighttul custom one may attribute the want of strength and symmetry of the men, which is sufficiently remarkable.

Que

Statue of the Medicean Venus at Florence.*-From Matthews 'Diary.' The statue that enchants the world-the unimitated, the inimitable Venns. is generally disappointed after great expectations have been raised; but in this instance I was denighted at first sight, and each succeeding visit has charmed me more. It is indeed a wonderful work in conception and execution-but I doubt whether Venus be not a misnomer. Who can recognise in this divine statue any traits of the Queen of Love and Pleasure? It seems rather intended as a personification of all that is elegant graceful, and beautiful; not only abstracted from all human infirmities, but elevated above all human feelings and affections; for though the form is female. the beauty is like the beauty of angels, who are of no sex. I was at first reminded of Milton's Eve; but in Eve, even in her days of innocence, there was some tincture of humanity. of which there is none in the Venus; in whose eye there is no heaven, and in whose gesture there is no love.

A Morning in Venice.-From Beckford's Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal.'

It was not five o'clock before I was aroused by a loud din of voices and splashing of water under my balcony. Looking out, I beheld the Grand Canal so entirely covered with fruits and vegetables on rafts and in barges. that I could scarcely distinguish a wave. Loads of grapes, peaches, and melons arrived. and disappeared in an instant, for every vessel was in motion; and the crowds of purchasers, hurrying from boat to boat, formed a very lively picture. Amongst the multitudes I remarked a good many whose dress and carriage announced something above the common rank; and, npon inquiry. I found they were noble Venetians just come from their casinos, and met to refresh themselves with fruit before they retired to sleep for the day.

This celebrated work of art was discovered in the villa of Adrian. in Tivoli. in the sixteenth century broken into thirteen pieces. The restorations are by a Florentine sculptor. It was brought to Florence in the year 169. It measures in stature only 4 feet 11 inches. There is no expression of passion or sentiment in the statue; it is an image of abstract or ideal beauty.

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